Menu Plan July 26 - 31

After about a three week hiatus, I'm back on track with menu planning. And it's a good thing, too - I've definitely missed it! Our schedule requires me to be super-organized about dinners, and lately I've been back to my old habit of standing in the middle of the kitchen thinking "uh.......uh......uh.....what are we going to eat tonight???" It's really frustrating.

Things have changed a smidge for us in the eating department lately. Hubby got his cholesterol level back from the doctor, and it wasn't good. Not terrible, but he needs to start exercising and change his diet. This is challenging - he's pretty picky and he likes what he likes. But I'm going to do my best to help him out by cooking a little better.

My plan to just buy the "orange tag" discount meat at the store has been working out well. Lately, between that and a couple of bags of frozen chicken tenderloins a month, we've been able to eat pretty well, and I can get the "natural" or organic meat for just a little bit more than I'd pay for the regular stuff.

With that, here's our menu plan for the week:

Sunday - BBQ chicken pizza

Monday - pork fried rice, steamed broccoli

Tuesday - grilled sausages (I found some chicken sausages with spinach and feta that I can't wait to try), oven fries, salad

Wednesday - taco salad

Thursday - turkey tenderloin (I got a great deal on a pre-marinated lemon pepper tenderloin, on sale plus it had an attached coupon!), boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli

Friday - turkey burgers, tater tots (tots aren't the healthiest but I'm not going to waste food!).

And remember, for tons of great menu ideas, visit orgjunkie.com!

Slow-cooker chicken soft tacos

Made these for dinner last week. They could easily be turned into enchiladas by using the sauce on top and baking them!

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 4-ounce can chopped green chilies
1/2 onion, chopped
2 T. Worchestershire sauce
2 T. chili powder
1 T. cumin
1 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
flour tortillas
shredded cheddar
shredded lettuce
sliced olives
salsa
sour cream

Put the chicken in a small crock pot. In a bowl, mix the tomato sauce, chiles, onion, Worchestershire sauce, and spices. Pour over the chicken. Cook on low for three hours or until the chicken is cooked. Remove chicken from pot, chop or shred, return to pot and let rewarm for five minutes.

Serve on tortillas with toppings (these or your personal favorites!).

Getting up

I've decided to start getting up earlier. Up till now, unless we needed to be somewhere, I've basically been going to bed about 11:00 and getting up when Caitlyn does, usually between 7:00 and 7:30. This usually means I get a full night's sleep. But, it also means I'm not really getting much done around the house during the day, and believe me, there is stuff to be done!!!

So, I'm now setting my alarm for 6:00. You'd think that would mean that I would go to bed earlier, right? Uh, no...somehow, I just can't get myself there. So, I lose an hour of sleep. I can sleep in on the weekends! Of course, if Caitlyn starts getting up in the night again, things might change, but for now she's sleeping through so I'm ok.

Yesterday, I got up and got the dishes done and something else, which I can't remember. Today I spent way too much time on the internet (there's my problem right there!), and then got the diapers hung out on the line and called to exchange a pair of diaper pants that were sent in the wrong size. Not nearly what I wanted to accomplish but now that I got a bunch of internet time out of the way, hopefully I can focus more on the house while she naps today!

And, now she's awake...hello, new day!